Our farm is located in a very historic although largely uknown area on the grounds of the old Baker/Wyche plantation. In 1773 the Colonial Governor James Wright purchased the land that has now become Elbert County and most of Northeast Georgia for King George from the Cherokee Indians. Col. Dixon Rd. was then known as Cherokee Path was one of the main north/south routes in Revolutionary times. There were schools and stores and churches in a settlement around the plantation which are now gone. The plantation house burned down in the 1960's. We built our farm house on the highest point at roughly the center of our 150 acres. Wildlife is abundant here and often competes for our crops.
We have an intensive organic program to restore what were once depleted plantation cotton fields and then commercially planted pine to full organic vigor and tilth. We are running a sustainable farm and our soils are improving year by year. Starting with a mixture of Georgia clay (complete with organic rocks and boulders) and sandy loam we have progressively enriched the soil by growing clovers and companion crops such as wheat and oats, plowing them under, and growing more. The improvement has been dramatic over a three year period as barren, crusted fields have given rise to lush green mulch and cover crops. This can be seen by comparing our more developed fields - the Upper 40, the Teepee Patch and the Darlin' Patch (named for Lucy) - with the New 40 and Back 40, which were cleared two years ago. The mature fields now support stands of waist high clover and buckwheat while the New 40 and Back 40 are being actively developed to their full potential. The Upper 40, our main production field, was cleared only three years ago and is a clear example of how symbiotic rather than industrial agricultural production can restore and enrich the land.
Updated April 24, 2010